A hot sunny month with a few thunderstorms and heavy rain. No smoke all month. Busy with visits from 2 cousins, several social golf games and dinners with friends. Interviewed a house/dog-sitting couple for our Japan trip.

Decided to install motorized screens on the porch which should happen in mid October. Companies were hungry for the business. Ordered a new stove as half of our 9 year old stove stopped working and it was not worth fixing. Got a trailer full of old cedar and fir (clear and straight grain) that was pulled from a demolished building some 40 years ago. $65 🙂 Not yet sure what I will do with it but I am sure inspiration will strike. And decided to build an annex onto the equipment shelter as the latter was not quite big enough. Just need to add some eavestrough and tart it up a bit.

July was extremely hot with most days above 30 and very little rain. While outside work slowed, Coop and I managed to almost complete the equipment shed; only a visual wall, sun screen, soffit, fascia and some grading remain. I now think I need an annex on the shed. Almost finished grading along both sides of the paved driveway – almost 1 kilometer in total – using a wheelbarrow, shovel and rake.

Began installing some yard art using some of the aluminum frames I bought in an auction two years ago. These should really stand out against a snowy background. More to come.

Sister and BinLaw visited before/after their hiking trip to Revelstoke. M and I had a mini trip down to Osoyoos to visit a few wineries and restaurants and a great concert in Penticton by the Cowboy Junkies.

My plans to go see my 100 year old aunt in Saskatchewan (missed her birthday while we were boating) and see Neil Young in Winnipeg (floor seats in a 6,000 seat outdoor stadium in the town where he first performed) were derailed when Neil cancelled 3 months of concerts due to illness (rust never sleeps). So I drove out to see my aunt and spent a few days with her. Delightful visit with a very special lady. About 3,000kms round trip in a perfect road trip car.

I was struck by how few people now live in the prairie country side and how much larger the farms have become. Toured the magnificent new library in Calgary – well worth a visit – and finally took a tour of the Revelstoke dam which was being built when I moved to Vancouver from Winnipeg by motorcycle some 44 years ago.